Virginia Hospital Center is finally breaking ground on its long-awaited expansion.

The project, which brings an outpatient pavilion and parking garage to the growing Arlington hospital, frees up space at the existing 357-bed facility now operating at capacity. The new medical building will house VHC’s outpatient services — surgery, imaging, pharmacy, lab, endoscopy, physical therapy and offices — currently running in the main hospital building.

The garage is up first, on track to be completed by the end of 2021, and the pavilion will follow, slated to deliver by the end of 2022. Initial site work started in August with the demolition of old buildings before starting construction, said Adrian Stanton, VHC’s vice president of business development and community relations. It “gets us closer to what we’re hoping to accomplish with regard to making it more accessible to our patients and, frankly, giving us the ability to continue to grow,” Stanton said, “because right now we’re…